'I don't know if the true number will ever be known': the difficult search for residential school graves

While plans are being made for how best to search for unmarked residential school graves, a northern Ontario archeologist says finding the truth could take years. 

It has been two months since a national conversation was sparked by the discovery of dozens of potential graves at a former school in B.C.

Archeologist Ryan Primrose says it's important to know that these searches with ground penetrating radar are very preliminary.

He says without digging it can't be known for sure what is a grave and what is not. 

"This tells us that there may be something there, but excavation is required to confirm it. It's a labour intensive endeavour," says Primrose, the owner of Woodland Heritage Services in New Liskeard.

"I don't know if the true number will ever be known. But I think that the initiatives of the province of Ontario is a step in the right direction."

The province has committed $10 million dollars to searching for grave sites or commemorating known residential school cemeteries and the the federal government has also promised $27 million.

Both say they are are meeting with Indigenous groups to decide how the funding will be distributed and the searches conducted.